Life on Potomac Street
by PatrioticSwellow
Summary: Nobel is now faced with several choices in his new neighborhood. Option One: Make friends. Two: Exploit hobbies. Three: Both. Unfortunately, along with these impending decisions, he has to find a way to survive high school. Rated "T" and that's that.
1. Chapter 1

.

 **Special thanks to:**

My sister for discouraging my creation of this story. She thought that "The Truth Revealed" was plenty of fan fiction for a lifetime. The reason why I thank her is because I enjoy doing the opposite of what she wants, which is the perfect motivation. Also, I attempted publishing this story a month earlier, but it wasn't exactly a hit. I was being an idiot thinking that I should give up because of a lack of reviews. I'm sure that there are casual readers out there who just want to read but don't care to leave a comment. I want to grace the silent ones with the return of this story. A chapter will be released weekly.

* * *

 _Chapter One_

We watched the fire burn our school to the ground. Amazingly, not many were particularly happy about it; school was an enjoyable experience for a lot of people. The fire department consisting of floatzels were shooing the thunderstruck students off the campus. My little sister didn't follow me through the forest; she had her own friends to attend to. My trail back home was much faster than hers.

Minutes later, I stumbled through the door, completely out of breath. My parents were waiting there expectantly.

"I could sense you coming from a mile away," my mother said.

"I know," I said, hating the fact that she had to rub it in every single time I came home. "You don't have to tell me every single time."

My dad laughed. "And she can literally read your mind. At least she doesn't rub _that_ in."

I faked a groan.

"Where's Addisen?" Dad asked.

"With her friends, no doubt," my espeon mom said, her pupils barely visible through the intense light surrounding them. Addisen the sylveon was the stereotypical popular girl at school, even though there weren't many who could call themselves that. I honestly didn't understand those gender-oriented stereotypes at all. How many guys actually talk in slang and have action figures? How about video games? Well, the video game one could be accurate for both genders. Everything else was debatable.

"Right again, honey."

"I was just watching something burn," I said, leaving the questions of "what?" and "why?" for them to figure out.

"Huh?" Dad asked.

"Kay, I'm leaving now," I said as I closed the door to my room. The boxes were already packed for the move.

 _How convenient. The school burns down only a few days before we're out of here._

I sat down on my bed and pulled out my cell. No messages. As usual. The only times I've ever gotten a message was when my mom or dad needed to know something or calling to tell me that I had forgotten my lunch at home.

 _Just wipe the tears away you lonely child._

A knock at the door.

"Come in."

My dad - a flareon - stepped through. "What an interesting turn of events. So, your school burned down. Your mother just told me."

I hoped that he didn't see my eyes roll. She always knew what was going on the moment things like this happened. Meanwhile, he was clueless until she graced him with the information. Maybe that's why he married her in the first place.

"Yeah, and at a convenient time too. If only it burned while school was still in."

"Don't say that," Dad said. "We have to pay a couple of taxes for your teachers, not mentioning how much the school costed the entire community to build _._ "

 _Whatever._

"Okay. We still leaving at seven?"

"As planned," he replied.

I heard the sound of the front door of our house opening. Addisen was back. I heard her put down her school bags along with the clang of her car keys dropping.

"Where's Nobel at?"

"Upstairs with your dad. You going to talk to him again?"

"Maybe. If he bothers to come down."

"Well, better go check on the food."

I walked back down from my room to the main floor. "So, what did your friends have to say this time?"

She looked up to see me on the foot of the stairs, arms folded.

"Oh, Rose got a new boyfriend, and I failed my last earth science test, as usual," she said, knowing that I was fuming inside. She walked away without further comment. I had to be honest with myself. I didn't enjoy being with my family all that much. At least she had summer school to keep her away from me.

I walked out of the atrium and into our massive dining room, one of the two of which we had in our house. We lived in the rich neighborhood, with mini mansions lining the twisting street. I never used it to get to the school though. My 2 acre backyard was a long lawn lined with trees. It was safe for me to say that it was a massive forest. My shortcut ran through it with some little spots off to the side with a large amount of leaves covering them. Those were the remains of my clubhouses when I was younger. Back when my older sister still cared about my welfare. Not that she was rude to me or anything. At least my parents bothered to answer my questions.

"Son?"

I must've been standing still for a while. I turned back around. Dad was holding out a tray with his jaw. Oh Arceus. Evolution stones. For a minute, Dad waited patiently for me to get my voice back.

"Y-you serious?"

"You're going to high school next year. You are now old enough to choose what form you'll assume for the rest of your life. Be very careful which eeveelution you will pick."

"Thank you."

"These stones were passed down to me from my dad. Also, remember to take your future careers into account. They're yours now."

With that, he set the glass case on the floor and took off for his office where the money was generated.

 _Wow. He's given me almost every stone. An excadrill would be lucky to find more than ten of these in a single lifetime._

I snatched up the case and bolted to my room to contemplate my decision. I set it on my desk, then climbed up to get a closer look at each gleaming stone. They were arranged in rows with captions below each one. There was a green emerald piece with some text describing the form that I would take. Jolteon.

Addisen didn't knock. Less than a second later, she was at my side, panting like she had sprinted the three flights of our home.

"Pick...SYLVEON!" she gasped. "It'll be fun to see you that way!"

"Heck no!" I shouted. She started laughing when she saw how passionate I was about that eeveelution stage. I'd even heard some stories when guys accidentally mistaken male sylveons as females. The outcomes were often moonblasts to the face.

"Get out of my room, or I'll call Dad."

"I picked my stone ten seconds after he gave me the tray!" she shouted on the way down the stairs.

At last, I was alone, and clueless as to what I was going to choose. I turned on my reading lamp. The misty stone was gone, as was the fire stone and the dazzling stone. I already knew which eeveelution was my favorite, but that didn't mean that I was going to choose umbreon.

I decided to sleep on it.

* * *

"Get up, Nobel!"

 _Uhhh. Go away._

"Go away." I groaned.

"We're moving! The machokes are already outside."

I shot up faster than Addisen could hunt boys down. Doing that resulted in my head hitting the lamp that was leaning over my head. It thudded on the soft carpet as I bolted down the stairs 3 at a time. I passed a machoke holding my mom's special dishes.

 _Don't drop them, or you're d-e-d dead._

I ran to the massive front yard of the mansion, where the moving truck was almost filled to the point of collapse. The summer's heat was always painful even though I had my fur and mane shaved down to less than half of an inch. And the hot pavement could easily pass through the fur and into my paws. I tap-danced down to where my dad was, giving orders to the movers.

"And we'll be off once we get our refrigerater in my pickup," he said.

"When will we be leaving?" I asked him, feeling like a five year old and still dancing.

"Are you packed?" He asked me, like a typical parent.

I sighed heavily. "Okay, point taken. But I need help moving my desk and bookshelf," I said, and didn't wait for confirmation. I marched back to my room. There were machoke already moving them out.

"STOP!" I shouted. I had forgotten to take the tray off my desk. The muscular pokemon halted and gently set the desk on the floor.

"In case if you're wondering, we've already packed the stones and the lamp in the box over there," the closest one said.

"Thanks," I said, and ran over to it. I grabbed the packing tape in the corner of the room, and had one of the smaller machokes to strap the box to my back. Addisen moseyed in, humming the Starly Wars theme.

"You ready?" she asked. I nodded.

"Kids!" Mother yelled from three flights down. "Ready to go?"

"Yeah!" we shouted back.

I hadn't noticed the 20 dollar bill slide off of the cardboard box on my back, until the machoke behind me poked me in the head. I turned back.

"Umm, this fell off the box. Here." He held it out to me. I shook my head.

"You can keep it. Consider it my tip." Then I followed Addi out the door. As I walked down the long hall with the bedrooms branching off, I overheard the pokemon behind me mutter, "Filthy rich kids. Amazed that they aren't like those other brats that we helped move yesterday."

"Yeah," another one said. "Remember how that one pokemon threatened to fire blast us if we didn't pick up the pace?"

I continued walking, now occupied by some new thoughts.

 _Were most rich people like that? Because Addisen sure fit that category._

I walked out to the transport van to where Mom was waiting. "Let's go."

* * *

 **I'm planning on making the chapters this length or longer from now on. This also goes for my "The Truth Revealed" story. Also, Arceus has been through so much usage, so he won't be in this story. Sawss, if you feel like you want to remove this story, go ahead and tell me. I'm only using your fanfiction format (pokemon going to school in a modern day) because it's so fun to use and it's truly genius. Also, tell me if I have any misinformation present in the first chapter so I may fix it. Also, the title of this story has a high chance of changing. Out.**

 **P.S. JayJarvis (my little 13-year-old sister) wrote a paragraph to contribute to this chapter. Can you guess where?**

* * *

 **The premise used to be at the top of the page, but I decided to put it down here for your convenience.**

 _Premise_

(you don't have to read them, because they're just credits)

Before I start, I would like to announce a few advancements in my other story: "The Truth Revealed". It is currently on hiatus, so that means that I'll return to it eventually. Expect chapter 30 near the beginning of July, 2017. I've just been so busy storyboarding and other things...which is none of your business.

Now, onto the story, which is a fanfic based loosely on the "That" fanfic. No, you don't have to read it to understand this. That is, this will take place in the same universe, because I am a nerd with no imagination. (Note that I will immediately take this story down if awesomesawss wishes. Because he could very well call this a copyright infringement) Unfortunately, some people enjoy doing things that they aren't even good at.

But don't worry, I'll get good at it, because practice is a magical thing. Get ready to follow an espeon and a sylveon through their move to Talonflame Heights, a rich community just beginning from its roots. That's all I'm going to say for now. Also, they will go to a new school called "Latias High," which takes place about 20-ish years before Julley becomes a freshman. And I thought that the time of Julley was the good ol' days. I even considered making my main character here an umbreon.

But, Eclipse has already filled that role so… Yeah. Anyways, I hope that you'll enjoy it as much as I will. JayJarvis won't be editing this. If you haven't figured it out by now, JayJarvis is my sister. WOW. Even our pen names are similar. Okay, enough tangents. Here it is…

UPDATE: TALONFLAME HEIGHTS IS NO LONGER BEING USED. Nobel may visit the rich neighborhood, however. One day.

 **-PatrioticSwellow**


	2. Chapter 2

_._

 _Chapter Two_

I slept for most of the ride, leaning against the window. According to the GPS, there was still 2 hours left in the trip when I woke up to go to the bathroom at the nearest QuickTrip. I faded off again, only to wake up an hour later to someone shouting.

"DON'T YOU DARE, ADDISEN!"

I shot back up, and my fur bristled. Then I turned watery eyes to the neon pink sylveon next to me. She had pulled the glass tray from under the front seat and was moving the pink stone close to my face while I was sleeping.

"What the hel-" I started.

"-I already told you earlier to not do that!" my mother yelled. "Do you have _any_ idea what your punishment will be if you force him to evolve?"

She shook her head vigorously.

"We'll lock you in your new closet for a couple of days," Dad said.

I knew that my parents weren't being cruel; getting thrown in prison for a year was the norm for forced evolution. In fact, it was merciful. My mom - being an espeon - could concentrate on more than just the road at one time. So Addisen kept to herself for the rest of the trip.

* * *

It was dark when I opened my eyes. I could dimly see the outlines of my dresser in an unfamiliar bedroom. My new bedroom. The digital clock on my desk seemed to be shouting out the fact that it was 3 hours into the morning. I wasn't on a bed, so I figured that most of the truck wasn't unloaded yet.

 _Wow, this place has some nice carpet. It could pass off as a blanket._

Beads of sweat lined my forehead.

 _Man, why is it so hot in here?_

I decided that as long as I didn't wake anyone, there wouldn't be anything wrong with exploring the new place. Oh, and to find a thermostat to fix the temperature. I stubbed my toe at least 5 times before I even got out of the room.

 _If only I was an umbreon to see in the dark. AND WHY DO I KEEP STUBBING MY TOE?_

Everything kept getting confused in my brain. Then I tripped over my long ears and face-planted one the tiled floor of the hallway.

"Ahaha! That was hilarious!" a familiar voice screeched. Oh mon. The one and only Addisen. And what in the distortions was she doing at 3 in the morning?

"Huh? W-where are you?" I said.

"In the _closet_ next to your room. Where else would I be?"

 _Oh no. OOOOHHHHHH NO. She didn't dare._

"What's the temperature?" I asked.

She made a show of making comical clanging sounds as she wondered through the darkness. "Oh, maybe seventy degrees."

"Then why is it so hot in here?"

"Just go check in the bathroom mirror," she giggled. "The girls will love your new evolution."

I had to admit it to myself. I was scared. Please, anything but sylveon. "Where's the bathroom?" I asked in a dead voice.

"Across the hall from your new room. Which sucks, by the way. Mine is much better. Real shame that I won't be enjoying it for a few days."

I bolted for the door. Turned on the light. Looked into the mirror. And screamed.

* * *

 **Yeah, this was a short one. But cut me some slack. I'm currently on vacation for this chapter. This also applied for half of the first chapter. Please read my other stories, which do not take place in the "That" universe.**

 **Expect the next chapter in four days. I want to get "The Truth Revealed" off of the hiatus. Point out if there are any grammatical errors in the story. And for heaven's sake, tell me if there are any plot loopholes or uncovered things in the story. Also, I intend to keep the rating for this story "T". Nothing can sway me on this decision. Out.**

 **(Update from the future PatrioticSwellow: None of my stories are taking place in the "That" universe)**

 **-PatrioticSwellow**


	3. Chapter 3

_._

 _Chapter Three_

I heard the shouting of my parents outside the door. I wasn't sure if it was my father's idea to have our bedrooms on the same floor, but it definitely wasn't my mother's doing.

"Shut up!" Addisen said. "They already know that you're a glaceon. Let them sleep." It was too late though, because I saw the bright embers of my father light up the hall.

"Addisen? Is he awake?"

I walked out of the bathroom and flipped the switch next to the door so that Dad wouldn't accidentally burn the house down.

"I'm right here," I said, trying to hide the icy tears in my eyes.

"Just be glad that I didn't turn you into a sylveon. But I decided to be merciful," Addisen said from the closet.

"Addi, you've acted better than this. I don't understand why you suddenly have to take whatever it is out on everyone else. Do you miss your friends?"

Addisen sniffed. "A bit."

"Well, I think that it's time to get you a phone."

"WHAT? Really?"

I just stared.

"Absolutely. I think that if you can be responsible with it, you can Skype your friends. Help fill the gap for moving."

"What about _her_ turning me into a glaceon?" I said angrily.

"She'll be locked for two days. That is plenty punishment." Dad said assertively.

I stormed off to my room. I just couldn't believe what Dad just did. He's going to give her a cell phone. Probably the latest model, too. An i Phione 7. I collapsed onto a random cardboard box and anticipated my first morning as an eeveelution.

* * *

"Wake up, sleepyhead!"

Once again, I hadn't dreamed at all. I rubbed my eyes and walked down to the first floor of our house where Mom was making breakfast. She normally didn't do this because we had a servant work at our old place. Unfortunately, she had to find work elsewhere once Dad found a new boss. That got me wondering: How rich could his boss be? We were clearly rolling in the dough - I couldn't even imagine. And, to be honest, I had _no_ idea what he did.

"Hi Mom," I said.

She turned away from the bacon. "How was your sleep?"

I just stared at her.

"Oh. Not good, I see. Kind of obvious. I don't understand why your father would just give her permission to get a phone now. It's basically canceling out the remorse that she's supposed to feel."

I didn't say anything because Addi just walked into the kitchen as well.

"What are you doing here?" I snapped.

"Oh, Dad's just letting me get some breakfast before I return to hell," she said happily.

"Okay then," Mom said.

After a swish of toast and bacon, Addi was gone with a plate on each of her feeler ribbons. I was so tired of her that I just had to get out of the house.

"Bye Mom."

"Where are you going?"

"Exploring," I said and shut the door.

It truly was a mansion. From the outside, I could see 3 stories of windows. There were 4 floors in all if I included the basement, which had a game room and a cinema. Muy bien. The front had a long driveway that connected to the main road.

 _This looks like our old place. And look! I can see a neighboring house a couple hundred yards in that direction!_

I wasn't eager to meet anyone new. But I did want to see new pokemon. So, I took off down the driveway.

"OW!" I shouted. The 85 degree heat was burning my paws.

 _Wow, I can't believe this. My old stomping grounds could reach a hundred!_

I quickly got off the road and went through the pine trees towards the house on the same side of the street. The nature was beautiful to watch, with the falling pine cones and the leaves that seemed to fall in slow motion.

"Barry, breakfast is ready!" a high voice called. I turned around, but couldn't find what was making the noise. I shrugged and moved on. I swore that I was about to have a heat stroke from the climate. And it wasn't having a good effect on my mind. I pushed some bushes away to reveal the rest of the house that I saw earlier from over the treetops. It was larger than mine; it could easily fit in with the grand Talonflame Heights. And the door had a large stained-glass window with every color of the rainbow on it.

"You lucky ducks."

I crept closer, fully aware of the possible security systems that could be placed about. Like my house, their front and back yards weren't fenced in. I wondered if there were anyone my age who lived there. Summer break had just started less than a week ago, and I just wasn't sure what to do about it. For me, summer was a boring living nightmare with my sister.

Snap!

I whipped my face back in the direction of my house and started to take off. But I didn't get very far, since there was now a jolteon pinning me against the forest floor.

"Who are you, and why were you staring at my house?"

I could only splutter unintelligibly.

"Wait, are you that new guy from a house over?"

If I had gotten any closer to the house, I would have been right out in the open field of the front yard. But somehow, I got busted.

"Um, yeah, he's me," I choaked, wishing that I didn't sound like a complete moron. Just couldn't help it.

The jolteon stopped pinning and I immediately gasped for air. "Thank you."

"No problem. And sorry for almost killing you."

"No, it's fine. I was just looking at the neighborhood."

The jolteon stood on his hind legs and sprang up into the nearest pine tree, resembling a lightning bolt.

"Wow!" I said.

"You can see a lot more up here!" he called down. "Try climbing!"

I lifted a paw in front of my face. A glaceon. I was a glaceon. And I freakin' hated anything cold. The only bright side of being a glaceon was the fact that I could never feel cold. But that wouldn't stop me from hating ice cream. Everything else about glaceons were useless. They weren't fast, and pokemon communities never really existed well in the colder regions. So they almost always suffered in cities. At least I could now try to freeze any stupid sylveon in my path. By that I meant my older sister.

 _Hmm, can I learn the flash cannon technique?_

"You coming?" the jolteon called.

"Yeah."

I bent my back legs like he did, and jumped. Unfortunately, I couldn't make it more than 3 feet up the tree.

"Crap," I said.

Jolty (my new placeholder nickname for him) came bouncing back down like it was as easy as breathing.

"I've seen glaceons do amazing stunts, man. Try using your ice."

"I don't know how."

"How could you not know how to use ice? Just open your mouth, and imagine the power pooling there."

I opened my mouth and envisioned an ice beam smacking the forest floor. The next thing I felt could've been from a Harry Bidoof movie. You know, the part where the shadow muks sucked out some of Harry's happiness. Except the power that left wasn't painful. I didn't know, It's hard to describe. Somehow, I had quickly constructed a tower of ice that elevated me to the first branch of a pine tree. Jolty applauded below. "Well, I think you've figured it out."

It was amazing to me how I wasn't even tired after all of that. I aimed at the ground next to Jolty and fired. Then I dragged the beam to where my tower was, until I had an entire set of stairs constructed.

"Already an artist," he laughed. Once I was back on the floor I said, "I'll bet that this tower will be gone within an hour. Just like me."

"Right. You'll need a giant refrigerator in your room."

I wasn't the social type, but I could carry a conversation if I really wanted to. But I didn't at the moment.

"Okay, I got to go back," I said, once again sounding lame.

Jolty nodded. "Also, what's your name?"

"Nobel," I said.

"Huh. Kind of like the Nobel Peace Prize."

"Yeah. And what's your name?" I asked.

"Agumon."

I wasn't sure that I heard him right. "Did you just say something stupid?"

"Huh? No! I said that my name is Zander."

"Oh, I got it. Zander. Okay, well, I'd better get home. Lunch and stuff like that. See you around?"

He nodded. "Yeah."

I turned to go back in the direction of my house.

"Wait!" Zander called.

"Huh?" I said.

"What school will you be going to this year?"

"Skyarrow High," I said. "Is that where you'll be going?"

"Yeah. Hey, I'm hoping to see you there! You're going to be a freshman, right?"

I nodded. "I already have a faintest on what classes I'm gonna take."

"Good. It's going to be great! We'll talk about girls and that sylveon that I saw yesterday-"

"-WHAT?!"

He paled at my sudden change in mood. "Umm, you okay?"

Once I had counted to 10 in my mind, I gathered my words together. "Where did you see this sylveon?"

"I said too much, didn't I?" Zander said.

 _I must be just as unstable as Addisen,_ I thought. "N-no, you're fine. Where did you see her?"

"Oh, she's your sister. Dang. From what I could see, she was in trouble for some reason."

"That's because she forced me to evolve," I said.

"And that's why you're all grumpy about being a glaceon."

"Exactly. And I would suggest that you stay away from her. She's dangerous."

"Okay..." Zander laughed.

"Okay, gotta go eat lunch now," I said. Then I moved as fast as a glaceon could out of there.

* * *

 **Playing Sun at the same time. A real multi-tasker. I have no idea how this book's going to end. Please tell me if there are any errors in this chapter (or story) plot-wise or grammatically.**

 **P.S. from PatrioticSwellow 85 days later: Sorry that this hasn't seen any updates in a long time. I may work on it in my spare time.**

 **-PatrioticSwellow**


	4. Chapter 4

.

 _Chapter Four_

The days passed. Then the weeks turned into a few months. During those long dragging days, I just lounged around playing video games and reading documentaries of ancient pokemon that kept journals. They weren't hard to find at the library down in Coral City. They were quite interesting, and I even stumbled upon a lengthy documentary about an umbreon that turned into a human—an extinct species. The humans, anyway.

I sometimes had a chess match with Addisen, but she was getting tired of losing. I often found her in her room facetiming a friend that lived in another region. For the first time in forever, she finally understood what confinement was. I couldn't stand being in my room for longer than ten minutes because the heat became unbearable very quickly.

I couldn't sleep at night either because of my suffering. It was just turning into the worst summer of my life. Once, I sneaked out of bed to get into the freezer in the basement—at the middle of the night. As for Zander, I didn't see much of him because I almost never left the house. And FINALLY, summer break was over. At the time, I didn't know if that was a good thing. It was going to be my first year of high school.

* * *

"Do you have your backpack?" Mom called up to my room. I quickly washed up in the bathroom and bolted outside, where Addisen was waiting in the driver's seat of her corvette.

"What took you so long?" she complained.

"You could've been three seconds earlier if you hadn't asked that question," I said stupidly. She bonked me on the head, then ignited her car engine. I was grateful that she hadn't removed the muffler from her car. I couldn't understand the pokemon that sometimes did. It was only a five—minute drive down Potomac Street and into the small valley below us. Yep, we lived at the top of a small hill.

The moment the sylveon's car hit the parking lot, she abandoned me and took off for the front office. I was late. I followed her close behind and found her getting a slip from the girafarig standing in front of a computer.

"Thanks," she said breathlessly.

She nodded to the sylveon and turned to me.

"You two from the same family?" she asked. I nodded.

"Right, so you're a Gray?"

"Yes."

"Here's your slip; first class is P.E." I thanked her and snatched the Skyarrow school map next to her desk.

* * *

"Corbin?"

"Here."

"Skylar?"

"Present."

"Tristen B."

"Yeah coach!"

"Tristain C."

"Heah!"

"Nobel?"

No one spoke. "Nobel? You there?" Then the door of the gym burst open to reveal a glaceon that looked ready to melt into a puddle. "I-I'm here," I said.

Every eye watched me as I sat down on the bleachers next to what looked like the world's largest rampardos. The best first impression ever. I looked up where the coach was typing into the desk next to his office. Ten seconds later, the raichu stood in front of us, already hunting out those who might be potential trouble makers. Luckily, his eyes only swept over me once.

I never checked if the class was Co-ed beforehand, but now I knew. Guys only—and I wasn't complaining, since I wasn't keen to make the bad first impression for all audiences.

"So, this is it, people. It's always nice to meet new faces every year, and don't expect me to remember all of your names just this week. Today's gonna be a chill day, so we won't have to get changed."

I barely payed the coach any attention — I was too distracted with the conversation behind me about the latest trends, which I wasn't too familiar with. It wasn't like I could keep up with them myself.

The rest of class was spent outside on the field - where the coach told us the rest of his expectations. Instead of listening, I went over to the pidgeot known as Skylor and struck up a conversation about random things. I learned that he was in one other class with me: Chemistry. It also happened to me my next class right after P.E.

Once the hour was up, I followed Skylor - who seemed to know where he was going despite the fact that this was his first time ever being inside the building. I, of course, had my map, but I never pulled it out. I may never need it with the winged pokemon as my newest friend.

The pidgeot was no joltik and could easily push through the crowds of flying pokemon - with me following as closely as I could. The two of us walked into Chemistry almost before anyone else - with the exception of a flygon and several other petite flying types. And the jolteon sitting in the back row.

"Hey Zander!" I said, and walked towards his row. Skylor followed and sat next to me: him on my left, and Zander on my right.

"Hello," Zander said nicely to Skylar, "what's your name?"

Skylar leaned past me so he could get his speech across. "Skylar. And yours?"

"Zander," the jolteon said. "I know someone else called Skylar around here. And it turns out, he's somewhat famous around here."

"Cool," Skylar said. "My name, but better. Right."

Zander laughed. "Well, _famous_ is probably a stretch. There's this well-known swellow in our history textbooks and Skylar looks _exactly_ like him."

"What's his name?" I asked curiously. I looked up to see an almost full classroom; I quickly looked back at Zander.

"Treeot...I think. Tree-ot?"

"It doesn't matter," Skylar said. "Google exists for a reason." And he pulled out his phone.

"Alright class, can I ask for quiet?" The lopunny said.

I rummaged through my bag. A few frustratingly long minutes later, I fished up the worst pencil ever known to pokemon. I set it on my desk with a proud look on my face.

"-so, take a syllabus as it comes your way," the teacher finished. Zander passed a purple stack of papers to me, which I passed on to Skylar.

"You'll find all of my expectations for this year on that paper," the lopunny continued.

I looked at the front side of the paper.

 _Welcome to Mrs. Metamon's class! The opposite side of this paper is where you'll sign with your first and last name, to show that you agree to everything detailed below._

I looked up, not looking forwards to reading the rest of the paper.

I jumped as the announcements came on with a loud beep.

"Good morning, my fellow 'mons, and welcome to a new year at Skyarrow high! Today's menu will be a delicious Alolan salad with a side of malasada..."

My head dropped to the table and I dozed.

"...and the authorities are still looking for the culprit who burned the Junior High down in east Hoenn."

I perked my ears up at that news. It was probably some stupid teenager playing with fire - not intentional at all.

"Interesting..." Zander muttered.

"-and that's all for today's announcements! I hope you all have a great day!"

Mrs. Metamon stood up and tapped her computer. The projector mounted on the ceiling whirred to life.

"There's no better way to start class than watching a short movie, but could you _please_ be quiet? The sound system's not working very well," she said.

Normally the first few days of school were quiet, since there were many new freshmen who didn't know anyone, and even the veterans didn't know all of their teachers, so they took the time to know their expectations.

So without resistance, everyone obeyed and looked up at the screen.

* * *

I waited by Addisen's car for her to come out, but she never did. I tapped my back-left foot to the asphalt impatiently, waiting. I envisioned myself when the sylveon walked outside to find a puddle of water right next to her back left tire.

I waited for a few more minutes, then gave up. She was probably already given a load of assignments since she was already a Junior. So I looked up the valley towards the mountain, where my house was. I mapped the few major turns in my mind's eye, and ran lightly out of the parking lot.

The street that bordered the school was extremely crowded with cars, and it seemed to take ages for the pedestrians to have a go at the crosswalk. The noise died down considerably once I got into the first neighborhood. As I ran, each class and teacher crossed my mind. I was much less frightened of high school than I was this morning. I had expected something new - something unknown. But other than the towering pokemon that barely noticed me walking between them, nothing changed.

Even Skylar was a giant to me. At least Zander was in the same boat with me.

 _I wonder where those two got to..._

A few minutes later, I turned right onto Potomac Street - probably the quietest place in the world. Every now and then, a fancy car would pass, leaving their loud music trailing behind. And despite the fact that my father was a upper-class millionaire, I hoped that nobody would ever force me behind the wheel of a Ferrari ever.

"HEY KID!"

I quickly snapped my head to the left to see who shouted. It was a feraligatr, and he had a nasty smile on his face. I immediately knew that I had to get as far away from him as I possibly could.

"W-what?" I stuttered.

He looked behind him, and more pokemon emerged from behind some pine trees. A gallade and a zoroark. They had some very interesting hairstyles, and they reflected their personalities very well.

"You rich boy?" the gallade asked.

I shook my head. "No..."

"You sure?" he said.

I remembered something from English class...the way the ninetails in the story uncovered liars by watching their facial expressions and the vigorous nodding of the head. I kept my head still and unblinking, and said,

"Positive. I was visiting a friend who lives around here. His name is Zane, and I wanted to see his new menagerie. Yeah."

 _Aww. I over-explained myself, and the ninetails would've nailed me if it was me he interrogated._

"Can we come with you?" the zoroark asked. The pokemon behind him smiled, as they were pleased that he came up with probably the most intimidating question out of the blue.

"Um, no," I said with a steady voice. What did they want from me? What about this was amusing? I just didn't understand.

"Aww! Come on! We would love to see Zane's exotic animals!" the gallade said, taking a step towards me on the other side of the street. And that's when I ran from the scene as fast as my ice-cold legs could carry me.

They started shouting and followed me... All the way to my house. I was quickly identified at the gate and bolted through. I whipped around to see the three almost at the gate.

 _Please! Close FASTER!_

The heavy bars of the gate weren't going to make it on electricity alone, and I put my whole back into it. It shut with a BANG, and the feraligatr, gallade, and zoroark skidded to a halt on the other side.

I stared at them. They stared at me. And that's when I realized what an idiot I was.

* * *

The heavy wooden door slammed shut, leaving an echo throughout the house.

"Mom! Dad! I'm home!" I called out. No one answered. "Is anyone here?"

Again, no one said anything.

 _Where have they gone?_

I walked past the atrium and made my way to the first floor living room. That's when I noticed something was wrong. The couches would normally be against the walls, but for some reason, they were all grouped together - forming some kind of circle. I jumped onto the soft, fluffy pillows, and for a moment, I didn't care about the whereabouts of my parents.

I contemplated the three street thugs that nearly captured me, and wondered when Potomac street would gain the title as "Potomac _private_ drive."

 _Probably not in my lifetime,_ I thought to myself. I couldn't believe how stupid I was for running home directly. Now those three creeps knew where I lived. I was so absorbed with my past failure that it took me a moment to register the crashing sound that came from the garage.

* * *

 **Patriot here. How's the story so far? If people like it, I'll no doubt speed up my production of chapters. Otherwise, I'll probably be paying more attention to a sequel to my first Pokemon fanfiction. Goodbye, for now.**


End file.
